Chair seat stop for exercising



June 26, 1934. R. N. BURNETT 1,964,193

CHAIR SEAT STOP FOR EXERCISING Filed March 6. 1934 FIG 2 I NVENTOR FLOW N. 1mm

Patented June 26, 1934 .Urr ATES oFFicE CHAIR SEAT STOF FOR EXERCESING Rebcrt N. Burnett, Flushing, N. Y. Applieation March 6, 1934, Serial No. 714,222 3 Claims. (Cl. 272-58) Various exercising devices now existing intaneo-usly with the feet and legs and serve as volve straining or considerable muscular Work. counter weights. For best results the strokes Most of them require the use of the feet for supwith the hands are mostly in a direction oppoport on the floor and the hands are also used site to those of the feet. The exercising is facili- 5' for maintaining ones position while exercising. tated by contact of the shoulder blades with the Use of a chair for exercising has heretofore been back of the chair. difficult. Besides involving a strain there was In the accompanying drawing: danger of slipping off from the front edge of the Figure 1 is a perspective view of a chair seat chair, unless one holds on with his hands or keeps stop, embodying the present invention, attached 10 his feet n the floor, permanently at or adjacent to the front edge of The device embodying the present invention a chair seat by screws, counter-sunk. consists literally of an obstruction, whose cross Figure 2 is a perspective of another form of sectional shape is the same, from end to end, chair seat stop, embodying the present invention, placed longitudinally at or adjacent to the front consisting of a roller-shaped body of suitable di- 15 edge of the seat of a chair, which obstruction ameter, which is removably attachable. It enserves as a block, or stop, to prevent a. person from gages a bent wire framework, hereinafter called slipping 01f from the front edge, and it furnishes a detachable holder, by means of coils of pliant a means for securely holding him on the seat Wire fastened to screw eyes placed at or near the while he is exercising or stretching, while at the axial center at the ends of said chair seat stop,

20 same time the feet and hands are entirely free the detachable holder, in turn, being fastened by for exercising, as explained later. means of its own hooked ends to the back sup- My chair seat stop for exercising, hereinafter ports of a chair. called chair seat stop, which is attached to a chair Figure 3 is an enlarged horizontal sectional which has a back, but preferably without arms, View of the detachable holder shown in Figure 2,

25 and un-upholstered, has sufiicient elevation to with supplemental coils of pliant wire, and which prevent a person, who is sitting on the seat, facis embodied in this invention. ing the customary way, from slipping off from Figure 4 is a perspective view of a chair seat the front edge, while he is using the chair for stop made with a flexible body, which consists exercising, and while his feet, at the same time, of a fiat pad, folded once, lengthwise, which, in a 39 are raised oif from the floor, and his hands are few seconds, may be removably engaged with the 85 engaged in exercising. As he stretches out, base of the detachable holder, and the latter atpushing his shoulder blades against the back of tached to the chair, without the need of the coils the chair, the chair seat stop prevents him from of wire. sliding beyond the line of the obstruction, or stop. Figures 5 and 6 show front elevation views of 35 The device embodying the present invention is a chair equipped v. th the chair seat stop with the designed primarily to furnish an easy means for roller shaped body and detachable holder shown stretching out the abdominal muscles, without in Figure 2, and their use by a man who is exerstraining, for the purpose of facilitating intesticising. nal elimination, and also to improve the circu- Figure 1 represents a perspective view of the 40' lation of the entire body, but with the need of chair seat stop 3, embodying the present inven- I very little muscular exertion. It should require tion, permanently attached to a common chair only a few minutes of stretching each day, and such as is found in many kitchens. The upper the exercising may be very light, or vigorous, to surface of the chair seat is indicated by the nusuit the desires of each person. meral 1 and front edge of same by numeral 2.

45 This chair seat stop, being placed at or adja- Placed longitudinally along the top of the seat cent to the front edge of a seat, so that the huand adjacent to the front edge, is a chair seat stop man form engages the said stop slightly below the whose cross sectional shape is the same from end upper joints of the thigh bones of the legs, or to end. This cross section may be of various not far from the half way point between the forms, but in Figure 1 it is a half round, whose 50 crown of the head and the soles of the feet, is a flat, or diametric side, engages the surface of the means for creating a better balance for the per- Seat. The material of the stop may be of any son who is exercising. During the exercising the conv t kind which will ff r sum i nt feet, at all times, are raised above the floor, and sistance to prevent the person. who is facing the stretching is facilitated by counter movements customary way, while using the chair for exer- With the hands and arms, which operate simulcising and stretching, from slipping off from the front edge of the seat. This chair seat stop 3, made of wood, is fastened at or adjacent to the front edge of said seat by means of ordinary screws 4, counter-sunk and piercing the top surface of the seat. For best results the height of the chair seat stop 3, at its crest 5, should be one inch to one and one half inches, and for the comfort of the person using the chair, the edge of the chair seat stop which is nearest to the back supports '7 of the chair should slant, as indicated by the half round shown in Figure 1. A strongly built chair is recommended, preferably one of the Windsor type, with sloping back, and reenforced.

In the form of the invention shown in Figure 2 the chair seat stop 11 is cylindrical in shape, one inch to one and one half inches in diameter, and it is placed longitudinally, so that the end of the horizontal radius lies in the vertical plane of the front edge of the seat, or practically the same position as in Figure 1, but this chair seat stop is not permanently fastened to the surface of the seat. It is removably attached, being held at a constant distance from the back supports '7 of the chair by a detachable holder designated by numerals 8, 9 and 10, which will presently be described, and which engages said back supports 7 by the convex hooked end 10, said chair seat stop being attached directly to the detachable holder by coils of pliant wire 13 drawn through screw eyes 14 placed at the axial points of the ends of said chair seat stop or fastened by said coils of wire in any other convenient way, and being looped once around either end of the base 9 of the detachable holder to form a complete circuit, which is tightly closed by uniting the loose ends of the said wire to form a ring. The detachable holder, an enlarged drawing of which is shown in Figure 3, comprises a stiff wire of a minimum gauge of inch, which is bent in one horizontal plane and with a shape having fundamentally three sides, two of which are parallel to each other and extend in the same direction, beginning at opposite ends, respectively, of the third side 9, or base, and at right angles to same, the detached ends of the parallel sides, at a specified equal distance, from their starting points, being bent in curved lines towards each other and changing their directions so as to form convexshaped hooks 10, which lie entirely within the original lines of direction of the aforesaid two sides; said detachable holder being of such linear proportions that the said hooked ends may be removably attached to and around the back supports of said chair at or near the seat, and the third side, or base, may be contiguously engaged with the said chair seat stop end for end, by any convenient means, or by coils of pliant wire 13, as above indicated. When a person sits on the chair for exercising, the upper parts of his legs and his body press upon and against the chair seat stop 11 and hold it firmly in contact with the surface of the seat, while the hooks 10 of the detachable holder furnish means to anchor the chair seat stop at a constant distance from the back supports '7 of said chair. A detachable holder of this description, supplemented by the two coils of pliant wire, may be used for attaching any form of chair seat stop to a chair for exercising purposes, and since the detachable holder may be unhooked from the chair back in several seconds, the chair is available for other purposes.

The detachable holder may be conveniently used without the coils of wire for attaching various forms of chair seat stops, one of the simplest and best being a flexible pad 15, folded once,

lengthwise, to make a total thickness of one and one half inches, as shown in Figure 2 The pad is engaged along the line of the crease 16, by the base of the detachable holder, which is inserted between the open lips of the pad as far as said crease. The pad is literally hung on the base, like clothes on a line, and the said pad, thus hung, is then laid along the front edge of the chair seat, while the hooks of the detachable holder are engaged with the back supports 7 of the chair. When a person sits down to exercise pressure of the legs holds the pad firmly on the. detachable holder base 9 without the use of wire coils.

Operation Figures 5 and 6 of the drawing shows the actual operations of a chair equipped with a chair seat stop of the cylindrical form indicated in Figure 2, and embodying the present invention. The person using this device at first sits down naturally on the chair, facing the customary way, with shoulders against the back supports and contacting the chair seat stop 11 slightly below the upper joints of the thigh bones of the legs.

Figure 5 shows a man with hands hanging down by his sides, with feet raised well above the floor, ready to begin exercising. He simultaneously thrusts out his feet, which should be held closely together, pushes with his shoulder blades against the back of the chair and moderately elevates his chest. During this operation, and as he stretches, he pushes against the chair seat stop 11, which holds him securely on the seat. As the feet are thrust out, he can undertake a variety of movements with the hands and arms, which furnish a means of increased exercise and also counterbalance the feet. The simplest movement consists in thrusting the hands and arms back vigorously and as far as possible, until they are vertically up and down, on a line with the shoulders-this motion occurring simultaneously with the strokes of the feet, and where vigorously done, the human form becomes nearly straight. Figure 6 shows another position, with the man stretched at full length. The various counter i swings with the feet and hands may be repeated a number of times, but three minutes exercise should suffice.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:-

1. A strip, which has a uniform cross sectional shape, and a means for securing the same longitudinally along the front upper edge of a chair seat.

2. A strip, which may be of any shape. each unit of which has a uniform cross sectional shape, and a means for securing the same removably along the front upper edge of a chair seat, comprising a stiff wire frame carrying two ringshaped coils of pliant wire, said coils of wire serving as links to engage the ends of the strip with the front side of said wire frame.

3. A strip, each unit of which has a uniform cross sectional shape, and a means for securing the same removably along the front upper edge of a chair seat, comprising a detachable stiff wire frame, shaped in one horizontal plane, like a flattened U whose loose ends curve inwardly to form short convex-shaped hooks; said stiff wire frame being of such linear proportions that the hooked ends may be removably secured to the back supports of the chair near the seat, and the front of the stiff wire frame may be securely ongaged to the said strip by two coils of pliant wire.

ROBERT N. BURNETT. 

